‘Near miss’ school is now Ofsted hit
ASECONDARY school has been rated ‘good’ after an ‘excruciating’ near miss at its last inspection.
Ofsted has praised Matthew Moss High School for making ‘significant improvements’ across the board.
It comes after the education watchdog said the Marland high school ‘requires improvement’ at its previous inspection in 2016.
Speaking at the time headteacher Mark Moorhouse said the school was ‘so close’ to a good rating, and urged parents and pupils to ‘watch this space.’
But now the school has delivered on the head’s promise, with Ofsted rating it ‘good’ in all four areas assessed. Ofsted praised school leaders and governors for establishing ‘an aspirational culture of high expectations for pupils.’
“Their effective actions have resulted in significant improvements in pupils’ outcomes, attendance and behaviour since the previous inspection,” they wrote.
Pupils’ behaviour was also found to be good, with inspectors writing: “Pupils are polite, respectful of the opinions of others, and are prepared and willing to learn.
“This helps them to make good progress in a range of subjects.”
But inspectors said ‘even greater consistency in the quality of teaching’ was needed to ‘further accelerate pupils’ progress.’
More work is also needed to be done to raise attendance levels and reduce ‘persistent absenteeism,’ ‘particularly in relation to disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities,’ Ofsted added.
In a post on the school’s website Mr Moorhouse wrote: “Matthew Moss High School is a Good school.
“We have believed this for sometime now, but for this to be validated by the recent Ofsted inspection is highly satisfying.
“Teaching and learning, outcomes, behaviour and leadership were all found to be strong.
“Moreover, the inspectors said that the feedback they received from pupils, parents and staff, was some of the strongest they had even seen.
“To read such positive comments from the whole range of stakeholders is extremely affirming and all these groups have made such an investment themselves in the journey forward of the school over the last few years.
“The success of the school is an affirmation of everyone who is associated with it. So congratulations to us all.
“At this moment, we should not overlook that the report judges the school’s work to promote pupils, personal development and welfare to be outstanding.
“At this rate, it won’t be long before all the other areas of school life are judged to be outstanding too.”